The rust showed early on after no practices or games were allowed for the 5th ranked Quitman girls who were forced to shut down for ten days due to COVID-19 contact restrictions resulting in a 48-46 loss to Class C Summerfield this past Thursday evening in one of two games played last week.
The Lady Wolverines managed to get back on track the following day by beating Class A Cedar Creek 46-34 for their sixth win in seven road games under the guidance of assistant coach April Simonelli. Head coach Kyle Leach was in the hospital with the complications from the Coronavirus. With the victory Quitman ended the 2020 portion of the season with a fine 9-2 record.
Summerfield 48 Quitman 46 – Clara Womack scored 11 of her team high 17 points in the final quarter to help the Lady Wolverines draw within the final two point margin but being held to just 15 points in the first half put Quitman in too deep of a hole to overcome.
The loss overshadowed a fine team display from the free throw line where Quitman made 12 of 14 shots and a career scoring night for 8th grader Cali Deal was ended up with 16 points. Brayli Stewart added seven and Bethany Leach six on a pair of first half, three pointers to round out the scoring. Summerfield was led by Melissa Tate who poured in a game high 28 points that included all but six of the Lady Rebels 24 first half points.
Quitman 8 7 13 18 – 46
Summerfield 13 11 7 17 – 48
QHS scoring: Womack 17, Deal 16, Stewart 7, Leach 6
SHS scoring: Tate 28, Martin 12, McDaniel 6, Williams 2
Quitman 46 Cedar Creek 34 – The Lady Wolverines outscored home-standing Cedar Creek 19-7 in the final quarter to break open the contest that was knotted at 27 after three quarters of play. Clara Womack and Cali Deal were once again the catalyst for the Lady Wolverines, with22 and 12 points respectively.
Womack, who drained four trey’s in the contest nailed one long bomb and three of four free throws on the way to eight points in the final frame which was also what Deal scored as result of three baskets and a pair of free throws. Brayli Stewart and Emma Carter also came up big in the fourth quarter by scoring their only two points of the contest. Bethany Leach chipped in with four and Summer Grillette added a second quarter free throw to round out the scoring.
It was a fine defensive effort by the Lady Wolverines that spelled the difference as they held the previously undefeated Lady Cougars, who lost for the first time in ten contests, to single digits in three of the four quarters and didn’t allow a player to score in double figures.
Quitman (9-2) 8 9 10 19 – 46
Cedar Creek (9-1) 8 7 14 7 – 34
QHS scoring: Womack 22, Deal 12, Leach 4, Carter 2, Stewart 2, Grillette 1
CCHS scoring: Furr 9, Soto 8, Spradlin 8, Adams 7, Venters 2
Saline 59 Ringgold 52 (boys) – Neighboring Saline took to the court for the first time in 18 days to even their record at 2-2 and win their first of the season in three attempts against a Bienville Parish school after two early season losses to Gibsland-Coleman and Arcadia.
Kenton Lee Crawford, who ended with 13 points hit a pair of trey’s while Ethan Roberts (10 points) and Titus Malone (7 points) added four each in the first quarter that saw Saline break out to a 18-8 lead and never look back. Blake Clifton led the balanced attack with 15 points that saw eight players score overall. Ryder Blanchard and Titus Jackson added five accompanied by Will Dyson and Shawn Staggs who scored two each. The victory stopped a three game Ringgold winning streak.
SHS (2-2) 18 12 16 13 – 59
RHS (3-5) 8 15 13 16 – 52
SHS scoring: Clifton 15, Crawford 13, Roberts 10, Malone 7, Blanchard 5, Jackson 5, Dison 2, Staggs 2
RHS scoring: Johnson 22, Cook 9, McCarty 8, Adams 8, Manning 5